Blend It, Bandicoot
Blending sounds into words: hear s … u … n, and find the sun
How it plays
Your child hears a short word said one sound at a time — s … u … n — with a dot lighting up for each sound, then taps the picture it makes. Blending sounds into words is the step between knowing letter sounds and reading. Every word is three single sounds, and the first words start with sounds you can hold on to (sss, fff, mmm), which are the easiest to push together; words that start with short, popping sounds (b, p, t) come later. There are only pictures to choose from, never the written word, so it's the ear doing the work. It starts with two pictures and offers more as your child gets them right; a wrong one steps back and the sounds play again. It needs sound on.
What it's for
Blending sounds into words: hear s … u … n, and find the sun. It adapts as your child plays: after a few rounds that go well it steps up a little, and after a couple of hard ones it quietly steps back. The level number only ever goes up.
There is no score to lose and no way to fail. A wrong move is met with a gentle nudge, and a level ends when it's won.
Away from the screen: Robot talk
About two minutes, with things most homes have.
- Talk like a robot, one sound at a time: "Get your h … a … t."
- Your child works out the word and fetches it.
- Swap: they robot-talk, you guess.
Three questions to ask while they play
- Can you say the sounds faster, and push them together?
- What word do those sounds make?
- How many sounds did you hear?
Play together
Things to say or ask
- Say the sounds slowly, then fast: s-u-n… sun!
- Stretch it like a piece of elastic.
- You put the sounds together all by yourself.
Taking turns on one device: One player says the sounds like a robot (h-a-t); the other finds the word. Swap each word.
Talk-about cards: a question a day for a week, for the car or the dinner table. Print them, or read them from your phone.
If they find it hard
Say the sounds out loud with the bandicoot, a bit faster each time. Or try Dingo's Echo first: hearing one sound at a time first.
A sheet to print
Print the Blend It, Bandicoot sheet
One A4 page, in black and white or colour.
What it practises
- Blending sounds into words. Hearing s … u … n and knowing it's sun: the step before reading.
AC9EFLY12 (English, Foundation); AC9EFLY09 (English, Foundation) - Letter sounds. Knowing the sound each letter makes: /s/, not "ess".
AC9EFLY11 (English, Foundation); EYLF 5.4 (Early Years Learning Framework V2.0) - New words. Meeting and using everyday words.
AC9EFLA08 (English, Foundation); EYLF 5.1 (Early Years Learning Framework V2.0)
The codes are from the Early Years Learning Framework V2.0 (for children from birth to five) and the Australian Curriculum v9 (Foundation to Year 2). Each links to the official wording. Every skill, and the games for it.
What it costs, and what we collect
Nothing, and nothing. There is no account, no advertising and no tracking of any kind. Which games have been played is remembered on your own device and is never sent anywhere. The full version is here, and it's short.
Where it lives
Blend It, Bandicoot lives in The Quiet Deep — words and spelling. It works on a phone, a tablet or a classroom screen, and once it's been opened it keeps working with no signal at all.
Updated